Broom-corn-cutting machine.



PATNNTND MAN. 13, 1906.

C. R. NUCKIJENERRY." BRCCM CORN CUTTING MACHINE. 'APPLIOATION FILED DEG.31. 1904. RENEWED DBO. 2, 1905.

No. 815,018. PATENTBDMAR. 13, 1906.5

G. R. HUCKLEBERRY. BROOM CORN CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLIOATIOH FILED 1,211.31. 1904. RENEWID DEO. 2, 1905. Y

' 5 sHBnTs-sHnnT'4- ATTORNEYS MTENTEDMAR. 13, 1906.

C.R. HUCKLEBERRY. BRCOM CORN CUTTING MACHINE. APPLIUATION'HLED 1120.31.1904.' 1111111111131) DE0.2,1905.

5 SHEETS- SHEET 5.

Arme/VHS which machine lis so constructed and arv ranged as to even the varying lengths of the length. It is very Y brush ends all of the same length, and my inscribe with reference .view-of the front end o UNITED- lPATENr yoI-rrIoE.

CHARLES R. HUCKLEBERRI'E rinus, ILLINOIS. .Y

- BnooM-ooRN- ouji-TING MACHINE.

Specification or Letters ratent. 1

VZEal'eented. March 13, 1906 Appreeeien filed December s1, 1,904. Renewed peeember z, 1905. seein No. 289.981.

i To all whom, t may concern.:

Be it known that I, CHARLES R. HUGKLE- BERRY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paris, in the county of Edgar and State of Illinois, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Broom-Corn-Cutting Machines, of which the following is a specifica- Y tion.

vBroom corn is grown in straight rows across the held, and its stalks attain a hei htof from eightto fourteen feet.' These-.sta .ks are long and slender and are easily cut. i vSaid stalks, however, vary considerably in height, and in cutting H the brush at the ytop of the stalk the brush ends vary very much in desirable to have the vention is designed 4to provide a machine which may be drawn across the iield a team to rapidly cut the broomcorn, and,

cut-off brush endsV and trim ofi the-superwhich binds them in bundles.

My invention consists in anovel construction of automatic machine for doing the above Work, which I will now proceed to deto the drawings, in which* v Figure 1 is a side elevation of themachine. Fig. 2 is a frontend elevation, the drivin gears being omitted;V Fiv 2, a detail plan the bod-y frame. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the upper part of the machine. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the intermediate frame with driving-gears. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional detail showing 4.the iirst cutting-disk, and Fig. 6 shows vin d-iiferent stages the effect of my machine upon the broom-corn.

In the drawings, Fig. `6, thenumerals 1 2 .3 4 represent the stalks of broom-corn o f varying ,height as they grow in the row. My machine .which causes the butt-ends ofthe stalks `td Aproject in an uneven roW. These uneven.

butt-@Mears then t0 be cutoff @lengths feed-chain, an

ons par-iv line y y, -leaving the brush ends of uniform llength -t o be bound and prepared for the s market.

In' doing the above-described work my ma- 4chinecomprehends' a gatherer for bending over the tops of the broom-corn, so as. to

bring them in osition to be cut,l a spiked dp an apron for carrylnglthe broom-corn along, `a rotary cutter forcutting oif the brush ends, an evener-belt for evening the brush ends, and a second rotary cutter for recutting the irregularly-proj ecting butt-ends of the stalks. v

Referring to Figs. 2 land 3, G isa long curved arm which as the machine is drawn down the row strikes against the tops of the stalks of broom-corn inthe row and bends the brush'ends over to a nearly horizontal 4 position, They ,are seized in this `position by the spikes ,of the chain F and are carried over the rotary cutter-disk C. The shorter ends will fall transversely 4on a traveling belt or Vapron E?, which moves in the .direction of the arrow, and the longer ends fall with their brushes against the. evenerbelt I. vThis.

vevener-belt isset at an incline and as its face 'neigt to Ithe brushes moves downward it forces theseextra long tops down across the belt E3, so that their butt-ends project Irregularly OIl l011e table vAs 4,the tops pass along l on the napron E3 the projecting butt-ends of the longer tops pass under a second rotary cutter-disk C2, which' I term a recutten andthis cutsoii the eXtra -length of the butts and leavesthe brushes of a practically uni'- form length lyingy crosswise of the vapron E3, `by which they areycarried to a binder located at the rear end ,of the machine,which is of a well-known construction and forms no part ,of my invention and which need not be Shownn I will now ,describe more in detail the construction 0f my machine by which the nVM1- above described are opera-ted and the machine adjusted to the varying character of the work to be performed.

In ,the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2, A repre- I.

sents a .body-frame which is mounted upon `an axle having large driving-wheels W in the vrear and upon an agile with smaller wheels W2 in front'- The frt @Brief-the bedr.-faflfle :has a .king-bolt Connection a with the plat- .form #below iis-Which permits the from wheels t@ turn- .'lhis Connection, however,

is' an adjustable one-that is to say, there is a row of holes in the subjacent bolster, as seen in Fig. 2a, into any one of which the kingbolt a may be set. This permits the front end of the body-frame and all of the superstructure of the machine to be adjusted laterally,Y as seen in dotted lines, and set at an angle to the row of broom-corn, so as to let the gathering-arm and cutting mechanism be set closer in to the row of broom-corn, as may be necessary if the corn is small or of dwarf variety.

On the rear axle of the body frame is mounted the main frame of the machine. This consists (see Fig. 1) of the long inclined bars B, the long vertical bars B2 at the rear, the short vertical bars Bi at the front, middle verticalbars B10, the upper horizontal bars B3, and the middle horizontal bars B. All of the working parts of the machine are carried on this main frame, and this entire superstructure is made vertically adjustable at its front end by having the inclined side bars B pivoted at x upon the horizontal axle of the rear wheels, so that the forward or receiving end of the machine can be raised or lowered to suit the height of the broom-corn in the row. For imparting this adjustment to the super-j structure curved rack-bars R are mounted on the body-frame A, and with these rack-bars pinions 1" engage. These pinions are keyed to a transverse shaft arranged in bearings on the inclined bars B, and said shaft is provided with a hand-wheel R and with a ratchet-andpawl mechanism by which the superstructure is raised and held to any desired position.

On the inclined bars B near the rear wheels (see Fig. 1) is mounted in bearings a shaft D, bearing a pinion d. This pinion engages an internally-toothed wheel W, rigidly fixed to the rear supporting Wheel W, so that the revolution of the wheel W rotates the shaft`D through the toothed wheel W and pinion d.

On the shaft D is rigidly keyed a gear-wheel D', which through a chain belt D2 drives a Vsmall gear-wheel D3 on a shaft D3, (see Fig. 4,)

journaled in the middle frame B. Through this shaft D5 all the workin parts of the machine are driven, as hereina ter described.

On the upper frame (see Fig. 3) a front and rear roller E and E are journaled, so as to carry the main apron E3. One of the side bars B3 of the upper frame is extended in front of the front roller and caries a sprocketwheel F3. Around thissprocket-wheel and another one, F, located about the middle of this upper side bar, a spiked chain belt F is distended. Projectin laterally from the plane of this chain be t and overhanging on that side is a table H. On this table a support G carries a long bent gatherin -arm G.' This arm extends longitudinally a ong the side bar B3 some distance above it and then at its forward end bends outwardly and downwardly. This gatherin -arm is intended toI strike against the tops of the stalks of broomcorn standing in the row and bend them over to a position above the carrier-apron in position to be cut and dropped on the said apron, as seen in Fig. 2.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 5, C is a rotary cutter in the form of a sharp-edged disk fixed to a shaft C, journaled in the upper frame, so as to rotate. Just above this cutter is mounted a presser-barGz, grooved to receive the blade of the cutter-disk and mounted on an arm G3, supported u on the table H. This arm is rendered adjustable, so as to regulate its pressure by a screw G4. As the tops of the broom-corn are bent over by the gathering-arm G they are forced by the guard G30 between the cutter C and the presser-bar G2 above and are cut off. The shorter lengths of the cut-off brushes fall in transverse position on the apron E3, Fig. 2, but the longer lengths lodge with their brush ends against the evener I. This (see Figs. 1 and 3) consists of a broad endless belt arranged in inclined position on the opposite side of the apron from the cutter and leaning outwardly at the top. This belt is distended about an upper roller I and a lower roller I2, journaled in side bars T13. These side arms are hinged upon a shaft I", carried by horizontal arms I3 on vertical standards I4, rising from the main frame. A slotted handle-bar I3 is connected to the lower end of the evenerframe and is provided with a screw fi, by which the inclination of the evener may be regulated. The evener-belt is driven from its lower roller by a sprocket-wheel I, Fig. 2, on the shaft of said roller and a chain belt I3, extending to a sprocket-wheel I3 on shaft T6. Another sprocket-wheel I7, Fig. 1, on this shaft is driven by a chain belt I, Fig. 1, which extends down to a sprocket-wheel D12 (see Fig. 4) on a longitudinal shaft D, which, through bevel-gears D9 D1", is driven from the shaft D5.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 3, it will be seen that the inclined evener-belt is run so that its face next to the broom-corn is descending, and as the long tops of broom-corn fall against this inclined belt they are shoved downwardly and outwardly until the brush ends are even with the brush ends of .the shorter tops on the apron E3, the butt-ends of the longer stalks being forced in an irregular line onto the table H. In this position they are carried to and cut off even by the recutting-disk C2 on the line y y of Fig. G. This disk is arranged above the layer of broomcorn and is fixed to a shaft C3. Fig. 3, journaled in standards B5 B3, one of which, B3, has a horizontally-extended arm at the top.

The recutter C2 is located at the rear edge of the table H, and as the spiked chain carries the row of tops to the recutter the buttends are cut off at the moment they pass the rear end of the side table, allowing the eutoff butts to drop. The row of brush ends are IOO TIO

' now even at both ends and pass along onthe carrier-apron E3 t'o the rear end of the ma- For driving the front cutter-disk C (seev4 Fig. l) a sprocket-wheel T on its shaft is driven by a chain belt T', which in turn connectswith and is driven (see Fig. 4) by a sprocket-wheelD8 on shaft D7. For driving the second cutter C2, Fig. 3, its shaft C3 has a sprocket-wheel U, that is 'driven by chain belt U, which (seeFig. v4) receives motion from a sprocket-wheel U2 on shaft D5: For driving the main apron E3 (sce Fig. 3) its rear roller has a sprocket-wheel V, which, through chain belt V it driven by sprocket-wheel V2 (see Fig. 4) on the shaft D7.

When extra long or crooked stalks fall upon the evener-belt, they arel liable to slip over the rear edgel of the evener-belt.` To l prevent this, I erect at the rear edge ofA the evener-belt a vertical shield or guard-plate q 1li, which holds said stalks on the eyenerbe t until they 4are 4forced down to their proper position. This guard-plate is shown in Jfront view in Fig. 2 and its position is indicated in edge viewby dotted lines at g p in Fig. 1. This guard-plate may in some cases be dispensed with.

Wi h regard to the distinctive value ofthe inclined evener-belt when arranged transversely. above the carrier and on the opposite side from the cutter I would state that it permits the short stalks to fall away froml the long ones, as seen in Fig. 2,1 and this leaves the long stalks free of frictional entanglement with the short stalks, so that said long stalks may be butted or pushed down end- Wise without dragging thc short ones along with the long ones in the evening process, which is a very important result.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to' secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A machine for cutting thetops of growing plants, comprising a cutting device, a horizontal endless carrier and an evener-belt arranged transversely to and above the -plane of the carrier at an inclination to the same and opposite the cutting device its operatingsurface moving towar the cutting device and acting on the heads or brush ends ofthe cut tops to extend the surplus length of the butt-ends substantially kas described.

2. A machine for cutting the tops of growing plants, comprising a cutting device, a carricr, and an evener arranged opposite the cutting devices and acting on the heads or brush ends of the cut tops, said-evener being constructed as an endless traveling belt arranged vat 'an incline and geared to move downwardly on theside next to the cutting devices substantially as described.

3. A machine for cutting the tops of growing plants, comprising a cutting device, a carrier, an evener arranged opposite the cuttin devices and acting on the heads orbrush en of the cut tops, ysaid evener being constructed as an endless traveling belt, arranged on axes at `right angles to those of the carrier and geared to move downwardly on the side next the cutting devices, and a second cuttin device arran ed'to act upon the butt-en s of the `to s -a ter being evened substantially-as descri ed.

r4. The combination with the carrier, the

'cutting devices, and the inclined evener-belt arranged above and transversely to the carrier; of a guard arranged inv a .vertical plane adjacent to and'projecting above the edge of .the evener-belt on the side ofthe evener-belt next to the delivery end of the carrier as and for the purpose described.

5. A machine for cutting the tops of grow ing plants, comprising two rotating cutters, a carrier extendingpast both cutters and an evener-belt arranged'on the opposite side of the carrier from the cutters substantially opposite thespace between the cutters to even the heads or brush ends preparatory to trimming their butts, substantially as described.

6. A machine for cutting .the tops of growing plants, comprising two rotary cutting dcvices arranged in vertical planes, a carrier extending past both, an automatic evener arranged lon the opposite side of the' carrier from the cutters in a position substantially opposite the sp ace between the cutters, and a laterally projecting table arranged on the other side of the plane of the cutters in a position between the cutters substantially Vas described. Y

7. A machine for cutting the tops of growing plants, comprising a curved and'laterallyextending gathering arm, a spiked chain belt, an `endless carrier apron, two rotary cutters, an evener arran ed on one side ofthe plane of the cutters, an a table arranged on the opposite side of the plane of the cutters substantially as described.

8. A machine for cutting the tops of growing plants, comprising cutting devices, a horiy IOO IIO`

vices and means for adjusting its inclination substantially as described. l

9. A machine for cutting the tops of corn,

comprising a Wheeled body-frame, an elesaid superstructure arranged between the Vated superstructure carrying cutting de- Wheeled body-frame and the said inclined Vices, said superstructure being composed of bars as described.

a framework having inclined bars B hori- CHARLES R. HUCKLEBERRY. zontally pivoted about the rear axle to give Witnesses:

Vertical adjustment to the front of the J. T. RICKETTS.,

superstrueture7 and means for adjusting |l A. Y. TROGDON. 

